Billy Corgan spoke with info-warrior Alex Jones on the latter’s radio show today, phoning in from South America where the Smashing Pumpkins are, as I write, onstage for their first-ever concert in Venezuela. This is Corgan’s second appearance on the program this year; he sat down at Jones’s Austin studio during SXSW back in March.

Over the course of the new, 40-minute interview, Corgan and Jones discuss systems of social control, in particular as they relate to Corgan’s experience in the music business. Here’s one transcribed excerpt:

Alex Jones: Let’s cut right to the chase with this new album. Beyond political, you’re talking about the nature of reality: You know, [“Quasar,” and “The Celestials,” and “Panopticon,”] and of course, “Oceania,” right out of 1984. Break down the spirit that you were basically channeling when you put together this new album.

Billy Corgan: Well, I think some of the roots start—on this album—start from the last album, in 2007, Zeitgeist, which you know, on some conscious or unconscious level, listening to you, and doing my own research on the Internet, kinda led me to a dark place where I felt, you know, what’s happening to my country? How do I grapple with these feelings that I’m having? When I started in music, you know, it was all cheery, Reagan, flags-a-wavin’, everything is great, and there was a lot of middle-class discourse on stuff that maybe now seems really small in comparison to what we’re really grappling with as we see what’s coming economically down the pike.

So, I think if you can draw a line from sort of a darker place and trying to grapple with the American Dream, which Zeitgeist had something to do with, five years later, now Oceania I think is a way to say, you know, I’m just not gonna live in that spirit, that energy, that dark energy. I’ve heard you talk about it, and certainly I’ve thought about it a lot, which is, you know, we gotta live. You know? Some of the most inspirational stuff I’ve ever heard you talk about is when you just talk about nature, about how God’s kingdom inspires you to fight the good fight and think of families and what life’s really about. And I think my album is really about that, it’s like, we all go through hard times, our country’s going through a hard time. It’s not a political album in that sense, but at the same time, if the politics is part of the backdrop, in the foreground I just wanna embrace my life, and get right with God, get right with my spirit, because I think that’s the way to lead us out of this kind of craziness that again seems to be coming, and God knows where it’s coming from. But everywhere you go, people feel it. And they can’t put their finger on it.

Another great conversation with these two guys. I like how Billy somewhat tempers Alex and I like how only on a show like this can we hear Billy eloquently address issues that are pressing, but will not be addressed in mainstream media.

This is beautiful :)
‘It’s not a political album in that sense, but at the same time, if the politics is part of the backdrop, in the foreground I just wanna embrace my life, and get right with God, get right with my spirit, because I think that’s the way to lead us out of this kind of craziness that again seems to be coming, and God knows where it’s coming from. But everywhere you go, people feel it. And they can’t put their finger on it.’-William Corgan

this reminds me of what i was just reading prior to this, it went like this,=”Now I say to you, beloved ones, the Law expects of you more! Come up higher and assert your presence, for the astral sea continues to rise and the fallen ones continue to plot. And for some, their time has not yet come and therefore they are left free to move against the Woman clothed with the Sun, to move against the nations and to carry out their plans.”

I kind of regret Billy stating over and over that no artist out there is saying anything about the way our culture(s) are headed in the wrong path and how no one in the music industry is asking the important questions. He has sort of name dropped MUSE as being close to an important band (whatever that means), but for my money they’ve been questioning the ones in power on better than any other contemporary mainstream act, including and especially more than the Pumpkins. And Bellamy has been on to all these conspiracies for years and years now and alluding to them in interviews and in his lyrics.

I enjoyed this interview. I like the way Billy broke all the politics down into something very simple: how do we treat each other? Behind all this political nonsense that’s almost impossible to make sense of (because of lack of time, insight, and not know who you can even believe), there are other people on the other side of the story.

I honestly really enjoy these billy – alex interviews. Definitely a bit more in depth than the Manny Chevrolet interview of vieuphoria. Hearing corgan talk like this reminds me of everythingfromheretothere.com. Does anybody know what happened to that site?